In the first of a week of daily podcasts with Guardian Unlimited, David Miliband, the environment secretary, explains to Deborah Summers what this week's UN climate change conference is all about, and tells us how much can really be achieved.
Although the rising star of the cabinet has admitted that there is only a slim chance of a breakthrough in Nairobi, he hopes to inject fresh momentum into the stalled talks, which will propose successors for the targets for 2012 set out in the Kyoto protocol of 1997.
Speaking during a field trip to Tekina in north Kenya on the border with Uganda after visiting children in hospital suffering from starvation, Mr Miliband said: "The world is not going to cut a global emission deal this week, but we can develop and make progress."
The nomadic tribes in the region were seeing an assault on their way of life after three years of drought and were asking themselves "some pretty fundamental questions about their future" after centuries of unbroken tradition, he added.
Logging and the arrival of thirsty animals seeking water were putting extra pressure on local communities in critical need of the limited water supplies available, Mr Miliband told Guardian Unlimited.
Tomorrow, Mr Miliband will discuss another field trip and the outcome of talks being held tonight with Kenya's government.
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2.21pm Also attending the conference is Ross Finnie, environment minister at the Scottish executive, who today contrasted Scotland's net improvement in cutting greenhouse emissions at a time when the European Union's collective track record showed an overall increase.
Since 1990, Scotland had reduced emissions by 14%, Mr Finnie said, showing greater improvement than any other part of the UK and most of the other EU member states.
He said: "In Nairobi this week I will seek to build on the action we are taking internationally and I hope that Scotland's achievements and actions may inspire others to recognise that by working together we can make a difference."
He has also recorded a video about this week's conference, which you can watch here
Podcasts / UK politics
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